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Showing posts from June, 2007

Need a Geek-Out Break!

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Yup... this week has been incredibly crazy! I'm nearly finished working on my sermon for this Sunday. I should be done before lunch. It's a LOT different then I was originally planning. It's also a tad longer :-) I was hoping for a bit more music then normal so maybe I should just talk fast. I really hope this will hit a cord with a large number of our congregation on the importance of Evangelism. My wife and kids will be going to Toronto this afternoon until Saturday night so they won't be in the way while I get cracking on finishing our basement. Tonight I'll be starting by organizing the garage. I need to start here so that I have a place to put all the boxes that are coming out of the basement. I also need a place to store all the wood and dry wall that is going to be delivered tomorrow morning. But before I get started on this project I'm in need of a little geek-out time. I have a free ticket to see Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Suffer. An

This Week is Going to Be NUTS!

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Monday morning coffee hasn't kicked in yet so I better go and grab another one :-) This week is looking like it's going to be a whirlwind of a week! I like being busy and I like working hard so I'm sure it will be exciting... I just need to be smart with the planning of my time. As I mentioned before I'm starting to work on finishing my basement. I'm really excited to get that project finished. We could certainly use the space in our home. I received an incredibly nice offer from a guy in our church who is a carpenter. He is going to spend the day with me on Saturday putting up all the studs and drywall! That job alone would have taken me a month so I'm thrilled with his offer to help. In order to be ready for Saturday, I have about 50 boxes which are being stored in the basement to sort through and find a new place for them. Normally I would just throw them in the garage but that is a disaster right now as well and would need to be organized to make room for th

Evan Almighty

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Just got back from bringing my kids to see the movie Evan Almighty. Despite all the negative reviews I've been reading on Internet about this movie, I gotta say, and it's NOT because I'm a pastor, I really LOVED this movie! I laughed from beginning to end. Mind you, I'm a sucker for cute, funny little animals. And I really relate to seeing a guy trying to build something who has no clue what he is doing :-) This was a great family movie. Very clean. Not even the slightest innuendo or anything that may have to be explained to the little kids. Just a simple movie, with a simple message of doing acts of random kindness to make the world a better place.

One Project Ends, Another Begins

Last weekend I spent 3 crazy days putting in a new patio in our back yard. It actually turned out a lot better then I thought it would. I'm sure that's because of the help from my brother-in-law :-) Well, my body has finally recovered from all the digging and lugging around 90 pound stones... just in time for the next project. Today I'm going to start the work on finishing our basement. We REALLY need that space. I was thinking of putting it off till the fall, but it's becoming more and more of a necessity. But before we can start the work I need to get all the boxes that haven't been unpacked out of there and find some place in the garage to store them. I'm sure this is going to be a BIG reminder that we just own too much junk. I'd love to have one of those professional organizers come in and just get us to get rid of it all :-) But why pay them when I already know what needs to be done... So for the next few weeks this basement will be taking all m

Thinking a lot about Prisons

... and not the type of prison that normally comes to mind. Lately, my heart has really been going out to people whose lives are prisons of a different kind. Not the bars and fences of an actual prison, but the lifestyles and struggles that keep people trapped behind spiritual bars. A couple of years ago, I found these statistics from Man in the Mirror. They say that for every 10 men in American churches: 9 will have kids who leave the church and never come back 8 will not find their jobs satisfying 6 will pay the monthly minimum on their credit cards 5 will have a problem with pornography 4 will get divorced All 10 struggle to balance work and family And this is just the tip of the iceberg! This simple list is of men IN church. Just image the problems and hurts that people find themselves stuck in who know nothing of God's love! So I've been praying and thinking a lot of this. How are we, as the church, helping people break free of the bondage of their prison? Two main p

Happy Father's Day

I hope all you dads out there have a fantastic Father's Day today! My thougths and prayers are going all to all the dads today that you would leave a wonderful legacy to your kids!

Marvel Ultimate Alliance

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For the past month and a bit I've been playing the video game Marvel Ultimate Alliance on the Nintendo Wii. This week I just finished it and I gotta say that I just LOVED this game! In my books this game has it all. A great story. Experience points to built up and equip your super hero team. Great graphics. Fun game play. Every cool super hero from Marvel Comics. AND A GREAT STORY! The story in this game is 100 times better then any of the comic book movies to have come out. And the cliff hanger ending makes me really anxious for the next one! I also really enjoyed all the hidden features and secrets that need to be unlock for further game play. Each of the 20 super heroes also have 4 different costumes to chose from (once you find them all). It's not too often that I still play a game after finishing it, but with all the options of this one, I'm sure I'm going to keep playing it for a long time. I'm now thinking of how it would be fun to replay it with just the

I Feel Like Wrestling God This Week

Not too sure why... but this week I'm just feeling particularly fired up about a whole bunch of different things! Maybe it's because I'm speaking in our Adult Sunday School next week then preaching on July 1st (and I have NO CLUE what I'm talking about at either of those!). Maybe it's because I'm reading too many books on discipleship and evangelism. Or maybe I'm reading too many blogs from Pastors who are struggling with different issues in their churches. When I get like this I tend to want to wrestle with God over these issues that are running around my skull. In Genesis 32 we read about Jacob wrestling all night long with God. During the match, God threw Jacob's hip out of joint and then He blessed him. So sure... maybe God is going to have to take out my hip while I wrestle over this with Him... but I know that His blessing afterwards will be well worth it! :-) So what issues am I wrestling with? A bunch. This is not directly related to any particu

Podcast Clean-Up

I love podcasts. In fact, I love them so much I've now found myself subscribed to over 30 different podcasts! From faith, to comics, to Star Wars, to Wii, to ministry, to technology. They covered a huge spectrum of my interests. But reality has kicked in... the reality that there is NO WAY that I can listen to all of these podcasts. My listening and reading time just seems to be very limited so I need to manage it a lot better. And besides, my little 1G iPod Nano can't hold that many non-listened podcasts. So I figured it was time to clean up house. I've decided to keep it down to just four podcasts (five if Wayne ever starts up his podcast again)... I took out all the technology ones (seeing as how I don't work in tech, and can't afford to buy all the newest toys) and hobby stuff (there are enough great websites to cover that). So here is my list of podcasts that I'm sticking with for now: Rick Warren's Podcast : This is a FANTASTIC podcast for pastors! I

Encourage One Another...

It always amazes me how powerful the words we say to people can be. Our words (or emails) have the power to tear people down or to build people up. The Bible reminds us of this. I especially like The Message's version of 1 Thessalonians 5:11 So speak encouraging words to one another. Build up hope so you'll all be together in this, no one left out, no one left behind. Last week I was feeling a tad homesick... it still happens from time to time. Nothing major... and a normal part of adjusting to the new home here. That same day I was feeling this, God put it on some body's heart to write me a simple little note. It was a simple thank you note for a job well done and that I am appreciated here. That little note just made my week! And I have no clue who sent it to me... so THANKS whoever you are! Why not send an email today to your pastor, or a colleague at work, or your kid's Sunday School teacher, or their school teacher, or the school principal, or just about anyone an

A Morning with Sam

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This morning I had a wonderful morning out, just me and my daughter Samantha. Her nursery school was going to Wings of Paradise Butterfly Conservatory. It was just a nice morning where we could hang out, play with some bugs, then have a lunch at McDonald's. I love spending some one-on-one time with each of my kids. It's just a great way to grow closer together. I've been a little slack doing this lately. I definitely need to get back into that habit.

It Starts With Me!

Last night God gave me another of those "punch in the stomach" reminders on how He would want me to live... I went to a pastors meeting for the Kitchener/Waterloo area. There is a big Billy-Graham-type of event planned for June 2008 in Kitchener. Local pastors are being involved from the beginning to make this a big outreach event. I'm ALL for this so I figured I would attend the meetings regularly. Also, I thought this would be a great chance for me to get to meet more pastors from the area. So I arrived early, grabbed a coffee and sat down. And I sat there completely by myself for the entire evening. No one said "Hi" to me. No one introduced themselves to me. No one asked who I was. The entire time people were greeting each other, hugging, getting caught up, laughing and having a great time, I sat there, alone, basically a stranger among a tight-nit family. By the end of the first half of the meeting, I actually felt like I didn't belong and when the oppor

Clone Wars TV Series Preview!

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We've been hearing rumours of a Stars Wars TV Series since Revenge of the Sith came out... and now there is finally a preview available of the first of two new shows! Check out this link to view a short preview of the the animated Clone Wars series. The style of very similar to the animated cartoons which were shown on the Cartoon Network. Personally, I quite liked the look of those shorts and am glad to see that carry over to this new series. Now, if we could only get some more news on the live action series!!

Tons Going On!

Man! I thought things were supposed to slow down in church once the weather was getting nice :) This morning I'm doing the church announcements and, by the looks of this list, I'm going to be up there for 30 minutes! Too bad the schedule only gives me ten. I SOOOO love what God is doing around this place we call Woodside !

I'm An Uncle Again!

Last night my sister Karen had her fifth baby. William ( Liam ) Thomas Alford, born 5-31-07 at 11:58 pm, 7lbs 8oz, 20 and 1/2 inches long! We'll be heading out to Toronto this afternoon to meet the little guy. Congrats to proud mommy and daddy!